Cyprian the Bishop

This is the first up-to-date, accessible study on the rule of Cyprian as the Bishop of Carthage in the 250s AD. Using the tools of cultural anthropology,Cyprian the Bishopexamines the interplay between the shift in the social structures of Christian churches in third-century Roman Africa, the development of their ritual practices, and the efficacy assigned to them in changing a person's standing-not only within a community-but before God. By concentrating on social structures, J. Patout Burns, Jr. reveals the logic of Cyprian's plan, the basis for its success in his time, and the reason why it failed in later centuries.